When the game shut down, I took my skills with me.

Chapter 58 The Truth About the World Tree? This bug needs to be patched!

The moment I passed through the portal, a wave of air, a mixture of two extremely contradictory scents—decay and freshness—rushed into my nostrils.

Fatty Wang took an exaggerated deep breath, then coughed violently: "Cough cough! What's that smell? It's both fragrant and stinky."

Lu Yuan didn't react much, he just lazily looked around.

They stood on a floating island above a sea of ​​clouds. Beneath their feet lay soft, shimmering grass, and in the distance, elegantly designed white treehouses dotted the forest like works of art. The towering trees intertwined their branches, forming a natural dome, through which sunlight streamed in, creating beams of pure, holy light.

This place is beautiful, like the highest-level elven capital city in a game.

But this beauty carries a hint of illness.

Tiny specks of static, like static from a faulty signal, occasionally flashed by in the air. Some tree branches were covered with ominous black lines, resembling burnt-out circuit boards. Even the occasional strange bird flying overhead would flutter its wings with brief stutters and dropped frames.

"This is—data erosion." Leander, who was leading them, spoke with a voice filled with sorrow.

She pointed to an elven girl tending a flowerbed not far away. Half of the girl's arm had become semi-transparent and pixelated, and her movements were stiff and mechanical.

"Damn, this is almost like a mosaic!" Fatty Wang exclaimed.

Lu Yuan glanced at it and immediately understood.

The data of these NPCs is collapsing, degenerating from intelligent life with independent logic into the most basic data code.

Leander didn't offer any further explanation, but simply led the two through the tranquil treehouse settlement, heading towards the center of the sky island.

The further you go in, the stronger the stench of decay becomes.

Finally, they stopped in front of a huge circular plaza.

In the center of the square stands a colossal tree whose magnificence defies description.

Its canopy is so large that it can cover the entire sky island, and its trunk is as thick as a mountain range, engraved with countless ancient and complex golden patterns, each of which seems to contain a law of the world.

This is the sacred object of the Moon Whisper Clan—the World Tree.

However, at this moment, this sacred tree, which should have been full of vitality, is critically ill.

Most of its branches were withered and its leaves were gone, with only a few stubbornly emitting a faint glow. Even more terrifying, huge black cracks ran along its trunk, from which a black, oil-like viscous liquid seeped out and dripped onto the ground, corroding it into data holes that emitted black smoke.

The whole tree seemed to be on its deathbed.

"Mr. Administrator—" A deep plea appeared in Leandera's eyes, "This is the foundation of our race. It is dying, and once it withers completely, our entire race, along with this space, will be completely wiped out."

"Okay, I understand."

Lu Yuan waved his hand impatiently, interrupting her tearful narration.

He walked to the World Tree, reached out his hand, and placed it on the rough, cracked bark.

To him, the tree was a giant, infected program.

And he is GM.

Virus removal is a matter of minutes, isn't it?

Lu Yuan closed his eyes, and with a thought, activated his privileges as the world administrator.

Command: Repair.

A gentle golden light, representing the authority to create and repair, flowed down his arm and into the World Tree's body.

According to his plan, the tree should be restored to its original state, flourishing with branches and leaves, in the next second.

However, a strange scene happened.

As soon as the golden light surged in, the trunk of the World Tree trembled violently. From those black cracks, an even more turbulent black liquid suddenly gushed out, as if enraged, and frantically counterattacked, attempting to devour and assimilate Lu Yuan's golden energy.

A cold, emotionless, and supreme will collided violently with Lu Yuan's power through the data connection.

That will was filled with the absolute intention to "delete," "clean," and "format."

Lu Yuan's repair command, in the face of this absolute will to delete, was like pouring a cup of water into a raging fire; instead of extinguishing the fire, it made it burn even brighter.

"Um?

'

Lu Yuan suddenly opened his eyes, and for the first time, a hint of surprise appeared on his usually sallow face.

His authority was actually resisted?

Although this force of resistance was far inferior to his, its high rank and pure nature were comparable to his administrator privileges.

"interesting."

Lu Yuan withdrew his hand, his brows furrowing slightly.

This is no longer a simple bug; it's another scheduled deletion script set up by the administrator and currently in operation.

"Sir," Xiaoya's holographic projection appeared beside Lu Yuan, her eyes flashing with an unprecedentedly rapid stream of data, "The situation has changed. We are conducting a deep data scan of the target. Please wait."

When Leandera and the elves around her saw that Lu Yuan's first attempt had failed, the hope that had just ignited on their faces instantly dimmed, replaced by a deeper despair.

Even the all-powerful administrator failed; are they really beyond saving?

Only Fatty Wang, oblivious to the danger, chimed in: "Brother Yuan, what's wrong? Is this tree's bug too stubborn?"

Lu Yuan ignored him and just quietly looked at Xiao Ya.

A few minutes later, the data stream in Xiaoya's eyes finally calmed down.

She turned to Lu Yuan and reported to him in an unprecedentedly serious tone.

"Sir, the scan is complete. The conclusion—is extremely serious."

"explain."

"First of all, this World Tree" is not an ordinary game prop. Its true identity is a backup of the root server data of the game world "Gods and Demons Era," codenamed "Seed of Genesis." It stores the most primordial rules, data, and source code of all life forms in this world.

"Secondly, it's not withered or sick." Xiaoya waved her hand, and a complex 3D data model unfolded in the air, clearly showing the situation inside the World Tree. "It's being executed a formatting command from the highest authority. The reapers we encountered earlier were merely the outward manifestation of this command. And the source of this command is precisely what you mentioned—the 'observer.'"

"Finally, and most importantly," Xiaoya paused, "the 'regular repair' command won't work, because that would be equivalent to modifying another command already issued by the administrator. There's only one way to save it."

"What method?"

"Use your highest administrator privileges to write a brand new, higher-priority rule patch."

"It forcibly interrupts the observer's formatting process and overwrites its instructions," Xiaoya calmly analyzed. "This is equivalent to you needing to personally patch the underlying rules of this world with a 'Heavenly Dao-level' patch."

"What are the risks of doing this?" Lu Yuan asked.

"There are two risks," Xiaoya said, a glint of red in her eyes. "First, writing a patch of this level will consume a massive amount of world essence. Second, once the patch takes effect, it's like you've signed your name with the highest privileges in the server logs of this world. The 'Observers' will immediately and clearly pinpoint your presence. At that point, the conflict will escalate directly from the current indirect cleanup to a power struggle between two administrators."

After Xiaoya finished her report, the living room fell silent.

Leander held her breath, watching Lu Yuan nervously, awaiting his final judgment.

Fatty Wang, unusually, didn't try to joke around anymore. Although he didn't quite understand, he knew things were serious.

Lu Yuan looked at the giant World Tree struggling on the brink of death, and then at the data analysis charts projected by Xiao Ya, which represented the risks and rewards.

On one hand, it's a one-time solution that solves all problems, allowing one to relax and live a carefree life.

On the other hand, they immediately get caught up in a huge trouble and have to fight a direct battle with another unknown "GM".

He remained silent for a long time.

Finally, under everyone's gaze, he let out a long sigh.

"Ugh—this is such a damn hassle."